Micheal Martin & the Oil Cartel

international | environment | other press Wednesday July 07, 2010 14:39 by Auntie Oil

Micheal Martin gets upset by some questioning on ireland's interest in Uganda, talks to Tullow and the government while in Uganda and today Tullow Oil get their contract! An almight convenient coincidence.

Below is the online content of today's Irish Times: 7/7/2010

Tullow deal gets Ugandan approval

Exploration firm Tullow said today it had been given approval by the Ugandan government to bring in French giant, Total, and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) as partners to develop its interests in the African state.

The Irish explorer was also given conditional approval by the government to go ahead with its $1.5 billion (€1.19 billion) takeover of partner Heritage Oil’s interests.

Tullow has an interest in three blocks in the Lake Albert Basin in the African country’s rift valley. These are expected to produce up to 200,000 barrels per day within the next four to five years.

Earlier this year, Tullow agreed to buy Channel Islands-based operator, Heritage, out of its share of blocks one and 3A in the Lake Albert licences for $1.35 billion (€1.1 billion), subject to approval from the Ugandan government.

Tullow’s country manager, Brian Glover, said yesterday that the deal had been “approved conditionally” on the basis that Heritage pays taxes related to the transaction to the government.

Heritage and the Ugandan authorities have been in dispute over the company’s tax liability. The row has held up the deal, which was originally due to go ahead at some stage in the first quarter of the year.

Tullow has since agreed to bring in French giant, Total, and CNOOC. The three will have equal shares in the blocks. The new partners will focus on producing oil and bringing it to the market. “This will result in a unified partnership to accelerate development of the basin and turn Uganda into a significant oil producing nation,” Tullow said in a statement.

The company’s price rose by more than 4 per cent in London yesterday to £10.83 sterling (€13) on the back of the news.

Tullow is one of the biggest players in oil exploration in Africa. The company is on schedule to begin production from its fields in Ghana in November or December this year. A specially designed floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and the equipment needed for the work are already in place.

Over the second half of the year, Tullow is planning to drill 15 high-impact exploration wells in Ghana and Uganda.

Over the next nine months it is planning seven other exploration wells in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mauritania, Guyana and French Guiana.

Capital spending for the first six months of the year reached $600 million and is forecast to hit $1.5 billion for the year as a whole. Net debt at the end of June was $200 million. Tullow is changing the currency in which it reports to dollars from sterling.

Chief executive Aidan Heavey said in a statement yesterday that the first half of 2010 had been good for the company.

The following is from the allafrica.com website (6/7/2010)

Kampala — The Irish government, through Irish Aid, has committed 166 million Euros (about UShs448, 200, 000, 000) in development aid to Uganda. The aid programme, which is going to run for the next five years, targets several sectors including education, health, gender, governance and private sector development.

The aid was announced by the Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Micheal Martin while meeting Uganda's Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa in Kampala last week. Martin was on a three-day visit to Uganda.

The announcement was followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Uganda's Finance Minister Syda Bbumba. The Irish Aid recently approved Country Strategy Paper for 2010-2014 for Uganda with a particular focus on Karamoja region, in eastern Uganda.

This aspect of the programme will see Ireland provide support for basic services and infrastructure, including schools in the region.

Of the 166million Euros, Irish Aid has committed 40.4million Euros to supporting programmes in the education sector.

n Uganda over the next 5 years. 32.9million Euros will be spent on support to HIV/AIDS to scale up prevention activities and improve access to services for people living with HIV/AIDS whereas 53.6m Euros has been committed on governance programmes such as justice for the poor and the vulnerable. The Irish minister's three-day visit included a trip to Karamoja in north eastern Uganda, where he met the Ugandan First Lady and Minster for Karamoja Affairs Janet Museveni and the Ugandan Minister for

Education Namirembe Bitamazire to officially launch the Irish Aid programme there.

Other activities included a bilateral meeting with his counterpart Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, and a visit to Irish Aid-supported organisations and project sites in Kampala to see the success of Irish Aid's investments in the country among others.

Martin also met representatives from Uganda's private sector which is also being supported by Irish Aid and with REPRESENTATIVES OF TULLOW OIL which is currently exploring for oil in the country.

Now, the Star (yes, they of INM infamy) carried a story last week supporting the minister after his annoyance at a reporter who asked him if Ireland's interest in Uganda had anything to do with oil. Mr Martin pontificated that we are a kind and generous nation who have been 'helping out' Uganda since the early 1900s.

Far be it from me to suggest that the Irish government has its' fingers in this pie but it's nice to see that the government is continuing along the route of allowing foreign oil companies to exploit someone else's natural resources. I'm pretty sure the 'mugs' in Africa will get more from this deal than we have from our oil and gas reserves!